IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON TERAHERTZ SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY is a high impact factor journal (2013 I.F.=4.34) specifically aimed at the frequency range between 300 GHz and 10 THz – “Expanding the use of the Electromagnetic Spectrum”.

The transactions covers a wide range of activities and developments in terahertz science and applications, while at the same time helping to bridge the technology gap between the RF and photonics communities. The journal targets high impact papers with broad appeal to the rapidly expanding terahertz community. Although the journal is sponsored by the Microwave Theory and Techniques Society, the scope of the transactions extends to fields and activities that are outside of the traditional RF and microwave communities. A personal goal of the editor-in-chief is to enrich the readers’ experience by exposure to cross disciplinary developments in the field that they might otherwise miss. The Transactions accepts both long, fully developed papers as well as shorter, more timely manuscripts that will appear in our "THz Letters" section that follows the regular submissions.

Publication Philosophy

The IEEE Transactions on Terahertz Science and Technology brings together in a single focused journal, the very broad range of topics and technologies that encompass THz techniques and applications. The editorial board is organized by topic area and has a primary goal of reviewing submitted papers and deciding on publication status within three months. Accepted papers are posted on-line through IEEE Xplore within approximately one month of acceptance. This rapid posting of high-quality papers brings new ideas more quickly to the fore and stimulates discussion and distribution without compromising the peer review process. Our current (Jan 2014) period from submission to publication is 19 weeks. The average within all IEEE journals is 33 weeks. In keeping with the varying scope of the THz field, the topical editors of the transactions continually re-evaluate their emphasis and update their committee members to intelligently respond to trends and to the suggestions of the transactions contributors and readers.

Impact on the Broader Community

The Transactions on Terahertz Science and Technology has the goal of reaching out beyond the borders of the traditional electrical engineering community, and into cross-disciplinary fields that make use of the unique technology that we represent and publish. As proof of this outreach commitment, our 2013 Journal Citation report categories include Electrical Engineering, Applied Physics and Optics. As a demonstration of our success, our Impact Factor of 4.34 places us in the top 5% of the rankings of all journals in Electrical Engineering (12th out of 247), but equally important, we place in the top 12% of all Applied Physics journals (17th out of 136) and in the 6th percentile of all journals in Optics (5th out of 82). Our future goals are focused on continued expansion and growth into many other discipline categories, while maintaining our level of technical quality, professionalism and customer service.

Information for Authors

The paper submission, review and revision sequence follows a simple electronic process accessible through this web page. The site is open for submission of regular and invited papers as well as shorter "THz Letters" (Paper Submission Page). Please follow the directions indicated and carefully select the Topic Area under which you expect your paper to fall from the linked page that shows the Topic Area, Topic Editor and Key Words for each selection. Detailed instructions on the manuscript format and submission process follow. Thank you for your contribution to IEEE Transactions on Terahertz Science and Technology.

Instructions for Submitting Manuscripts to the Transactions on Terahertz Science and Technology

Overview

The editorial office accepts manuscripts only in electronic form as .pdf or .doc files (no docx). Please be sure to select the appropriate topic area from the drop down list when you enter your paper and author information. A detailed key words list and editor information for each topic area can be found here.

For formatting of submitted papers please use the templates provided here.

Figures, graphs and all other necessary information for reviewing the manuscript must be included in this file (as opposed to being uploaded as separate files) and should if possible be placed at appropriate locations within the text rather than at the end:

Figures should be large enough to be easily readable on a computer screen and on paper when printed out.

Figures should use a high enough resolution to be easily readable.

One space should be placed between all numbers and units.

Axes should be labeled with large lettering.

On axes labels, the units should be placed within “( )”, not within “[ ]”.

All papers with strictly theoretical contributions should have independent verification with measurement-based validation strongly preferred.

Authors should cite the most recent papers when comparing performance or characteristics of the circuit or technique to prior papers.

Instrument screen captures are not suitable for publication and the data should be replotted.

The print version of the paper will be in black and white, but color figures may be used in the electronic version of the paper.

Whenever possible, theory and corresponding experimental results should be printed on the same graph for easy comparison.

Follow the Guidelines for Author-Supplied Electronic Text and Graphics available for download at the above referenced web site.

There is no minimum paper length, but 7 pages is typical for regular papers, excluding the authors’ photos and biographies. "THz Letters" are typically 2-3 pages. Papers much over 10 pages or shorter than 2 pages should be discussed with the appropriate Topical Editor or Editor-in-Chief. The font size is specified in the templates. TeX and LaTeX users must use scalable fonts rather than bitmapped fonts to allow easy reading of .pdf files on the computer screen.

Note that Topic Editors may pre-screen manuscripts immediately after they are submitted and before they are transmitted to referees for evaluation. The purpose of such pre-screening is to verify that the manuscript adheres to minimum criteria set forth by IEEE, as well as by the IEEE MTT society and the transactions Editor-in-Chief. Typical pre-screening measures include the following:

The subject and contents of the paper meet the scope of the transactions or special issue.

The author(s) have followed the IEEE guidelines for style.

The author(s) have not obviously violated IEEE policies.

The manuscript is comprehensible and meets acceptable standards of English.

The manuscript meets the minimum criterion for technical substance established for the transactions, in this case:

New and original articles describing significant work and/or ideas not found elsewhere in the literature. The transactions does not accept incremental submissions. All related previous work by the authors must be referenced, even if it was presented in conference. Theory, measurements, and simulations should be supported by careful comparisons.

A manuscript is considered in review if it passes the pre-screening process and is forwarded to referees. An "administrative reject" refers to a manuscript that does not meet the pre-screening measures and is, therefore, returned to the author(s) with explanation. Papers that have been accepted and finalized will appear in IEEEXplore and be posted through the journal web site. Authors will be notified of the posting.

Detailed Instructions

Manuscripts are considered as regular papers or letters. Letters are limited to 3 pages and may either be short articles or errata and comments on previously published material. No minimum or maximum page limits are in effect, but the average paper is typically 7-8 pages and the average letter is typically 3 pages. The author must notify the editor at the time of submission if the manuscript contains material that has been previously submitted for publication. We will consider papers that are related to material published in conference digests only if the paper is substantially expanded. Please upload pdf files of the previous papers where indicated.

Page Charges

Papers will be reviewed for their technical merit, and decisions to publish will be made independently of an author's ability to pay page charges. Page charges of $110 (U.S.) per printed page will be requested on papers of eight printed pages or less. Overlength page charges of $200 per page are mandatory for each page in excess of eight pages, excluding references. If the author's organization agrees to honor the total page charge, which includes the page charges on the first seven pages plus the mandatory over length charge, the author will receive 100 reprints. If the supporting organization honors only the mandatory charge, no free preprints will be sent. Transactions has now moved to the electronic version (cf. the print version) being the primary publication of record. What this mostly means is that we will now publish in color. Color figures will be directly converted to grayscale for the print edition. As such pastel colors (lime, yellow etc.) should be avoided. Note that a review will be undertaken independent of your ability to pay. However the publication of your manuscript is dependent on your payment of mandatory page charges if your paper is above 8 printed pages.

Copyright and Clearance

It is the policy of the IEEE to own the copyright to the technical contributions it publishes. To comply with the IEEE copyright policy, authors are required to sign an IEEE Copyright Form before publication. The IEEE must assume that material submitted to its publications is available for general dissemination. It is the responsibility of the author, not the IEEE, to determine whether disclosure of the material requires prior consent of other parties and, if so, to obtain it. Do not repeat figures that were published in non-IEEE publications including conferences unless you obtain and forward a copyright release.

Authorship and Plagiarism

The Transactions on Terahertz Science and Technology uses a two-step review process for all of its submitted manuscripts. In step one, all papers are pre-screened by three or more Topic Editors for compliance with the list of items below. If a majority of the Topic Editors who review the manuscript agree, the paper will be carried forward to a peer review process wherein a minimum of three independent reviewers will be asked to supply a detailed written review of the submitted paper. If a majority of the three Topic Editors find the paper to be incomplete or out of compliance with the list of criteria below, the paper will be returned to the authors with a brief explanation as to why the paper was found to be unacceptable. Authors can decide to revise and resubmit as a new paper, or submit to another journal.

1. Please make sure that your paper is within the defined technical scope of the THz transactions and more specifically, is targeted directly at the THz community. Papers that simply have THz in the title or abstract, but whose thrust is intended largely for other disciplines, should consider submitting to a journal that emphasizes that discipline.

2. Please check that your references are complete. In particular, you must include the page numbers and month of publication of journal and conference articles; include the issue number of journal articles; do not use abbreviations of conferences. For referencing on-line papers prior to their print release please include the date and assigned DOI (digital object identifier) number. IEEE standards for references are described here.

3. Please use the full names of authors on the first page.

4. Submissions must use the IEEE template for submissions and be in single-spaced double column format. This template may be found here.

5. Note that the quality of the Figures in a paper are of key importance to understanding the content and value of a paper, and are directly related to clarity. Extremely poor Figures can result in rejection of a submitted paper during our pre-screening process. Figures must not include screen dumps of instrument output. All plots must be drawn and use the captured data used in it. You should include essential information in the caption. If the figure is repeated or similar to figures that have appeared elsewhere, please add "From [X].", "After [X].", or "Data from [X]." to figure captions, as appropriate, where X refers to the prior publication. The fonts in figures should be comparable in size to those in the main text (10 pt.)

The Transactions has now moved to the electronic version being the primary publication of record. What this mostly means is that we will now publish in color. Color figures will be directly converted to gray scale for the print edition. As such, pastel colors (lime, yellow etc.) should be avoided. Also, we will not publish color in the print version of the Transactions.

6. IEEE policy does not allow simultaneous submission of similar material to the Transactions and another journal or conference. Full or partial duplication of content in another journal or conference can result in rejection of a submitted paper during our pre-screening process. If there is any question about duplicated content, please inform the Editor-in-Chief below before submission of the manuscript.

7. The Transactions emphasizes that theory, measurements, and simulations be supported by careful comparisons. This is particularly important for longer papers, wherein authors are expected to take particular care in describing experimental set ups and potential measurement errors, and in carefully comparing theoretical calculations or predictions with clear and verifiable data. If a paper does not satisfy this condition, but the authors can make a compelling case as to why this will not detract from the completeness or usefulness of the paper, they should note this in a separate letter to the Editor-in-Chief when the paper is submitted. Theoretical papers with no supporting measurements are acceptable, and indeed encouraged, subject to the condition above.

8. You must reference your own work, especially recent journal/conference publications. Discuss your related publications in the introduction and distinguish the new results you present in your current manuscript from those found in your previous publications. While there is not a specific criteria that must be met, such as 60% new technical material, the reviewers are asked to determine if the paper provides "sufficient new technical material to justify a new paper" when compared to all previously published papers. This standard must be met by all papers, including papers that are submitted to conference special issues. Note that longer introductions and lists of references do not qualify as "technical material." The criteria for “novelty” and the extent of “new” material, are particularly strong indicators of a manuscript’s acceptability for publication in the THz transactions. A paper may be rejected in the pre-screening process if it does not satisfy these conditions.

9. Significant extension is required over a previous publication, conference or otherwise. It is acceptable to repeat some results to properly explain the concept and to create a self-contained paper for the reader, but this should be done only when necessary. A paper should have “significant impact” above and beyond previously published material. This is also a metric that will be assessed in our pre-screening process.

10. Have you appropriately referenced the work of others?

11. Have you obtained any necessary government and company clearances? (This must be done before this work will be reviewed.)

12. If you have sent a similar paper to the THz Transactions (including special issues) previously you must inform us even if it is currently in review or was rejected. You must upload a pdf copy of that paper(s). Does this apply to your submission?

13. Please review your paper thoroughly for quality and clarity of English and for proper grammar. Papers with poor grammar, poor clarity, or disorganization to the point of confusion will be sent back for appropriate modification before being sent out for review. It is always best to have a non-author read the paper to check for grammar errors and unclear sentences. The spell and grammar checker in Microsoft Word works well and should be used. Ask a native English speaker for assistance if you feel you are not proficient enough in the language to meet the standards set by the journal. If you require assistance with grammar or clarity of English, please do not hesitate to ask our Administrative Editor for assistance with either IEEE supplied or independent language consultants who can help you go through and upgrade your text before your manuscript is submitted. Never use acronyms in the title or abstract of your paper, and use acronyms sparingly. Do not invent new acronyms or use newly invented acronyms. Please do not use the same title for your conference and THz Transactions submission.

Topic Areas and Topic Editors

Topics for the transactions include all areas of THz science, technology, instruments and applications and are broken out into specific editorial domains as follows (responsible Topical Editor in italics):